OK, I had a big long post planned about how CND Effects might be the solution to my recent problems with getting bored with my nailpolish because I have no time to do my nails lately, and how layering most normal glitter topcoats just looks stupid, but then I realized…there, I just said it, so let’s get on with the pictures!

OK no, I can’t do it. I’ve got to ramble for just a bit first.

So yeah, everyone knows by now what the CND Color Effects line is: CND (Creative, the same people who make Solar Oil and Cuticle Eraser) rehauled their whole polish line and came out with 50 (creme) polishes and 15 effects to use for layering. The idea is to create an entire “polish wardrobe” with these 65 polishes. An interesting approach, really, though I’m entirely not interested in the cremes. They’re also quite pricy at $9 for the cremes and $11 for the Effects. Too pricy for me, in fact, but of course that’s retail. I paid half that at Transdesign.

I had assumed that there was a shimmer, a pearl, and a sparkle in each color family, but that’s not at all the case. Apparently there are only 15 Effects, which seems odd to me but also good, because 15? I can and will totally do, considering how much I like the ones I have so far. This is what the Effects are:

Pearl

Shimmer

Sparkle

gold

gold

gold

copper

emerald

crimson

lavender

ice blue

sapphire

copper

jade

scarlet

raspberry

violet

amethyst

Lots of people have done posts on the CND Effects, and I always find it difficult to see much of a difference, and it’s always all confusing which Effect is which. I now understand why: there really isn’t that much of a difference between most of them, and these are impossible to take accurate pictures of. 🙂 So choosing which Effects to purchase was kind of a crapshoot, but I thought that I would like the sparkles best and the pearls least and bought accordingly.

The polishes in the bottles all basically look the same. I had expected that in the bottles you’d be able to see at least a hint of color, but nope!

The Sparkles:

And the others:

I swatched all of them on a wheel, each Effect on NYC Black, then Wet n Wild Red, then Wet n Wild White. I couldn’t get the Effects to show up very well on my camera, especially over white, but they’re all pretty obvious in person. 😦

Amethyst Sparkle – Seems less dense than the other sparkles, and more subtle.

Jade Sparkle – Seems much more dense than the other sparkles! Much more dense.

Gold Pearl – This…is green. Not at all gold. It’s a very frosty pearly finish. I can’t see using this one much, it’s not my kind of finish at all. This gave the most dramatic change of all of the Effects. Brushstrokes galore!

Ice Blue Shimmer – It’s blue, yes, but the end result gives a duochrome effect.

2) The Sparkles may look gritty and rough and glittery, but they’re really not, at all. It doesn’t even really seem to be actual glitter.

3) I don’t actually have another, but I’m extremely happy with my purchases.

4) Oh, I thought of another! One coat. I wouldn’t even consider doing more.

5) And just one more thought. These don’t work so well on lighter colors, or even really on anything that can’t be classified as “dark,” in my opinion. I’d love to see CND next come up with some more dramatic Effects that would actually show up on lighter colors. Also: SILVER.